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It looks like Old Man Winter finally gave up the goat and it is about time.  We’ve had some warmer weather the past few days and the fishing seems to be getting a little more consistent.  My last trip I was reading a surface temperature of 50° in the necks but it is still 46° in the main lake.  All my fish are still coming off of 5” glow sassys on a 1 ½ oz head slow rolling along the bottom in 15-40 feet of water on ledges and humps.  When slow rolling, what you want to do is cast into the wind and basically let the boat pull the lure along while reeling very slowly but do not drag the bottom.  The wind speed will determine how fast you need to reel to keep the lure in the strike zone which is about 1 foot off the bottom.  Every 5-6 cranks or so release the spool and let the lure fall back to the bottom so that you are staying in the strike zone.  If the wind is blowing too fast this method will not work as effectively but drift socks will work great to slow you down so you can continue to fish the same pattern.  All of my trips have been leaving out at noon but the warmer weather should get the morning bite turned on before too long.  There is still no bait to be found.  I bought 4 dozen shiners to put in my tank for insurance and luckily I haven’t had to use any yet :)

Thursday March 4th was a beautiful day.  It was sunny with a perfect breeze and temperatures in the 60’s.  I went to try for bait before the trip and caught 1 shad and this strange fish which I have never seen before.  Anyone know what it is?  I left out at noon with a group of 3.  Fishing was a little slow but it was steady the whole time.  We were catching a few fish in every spot that I stopped at.  By 4:00 we had put 23 fish in the box and they decided that they had fished enough and were ready to call it a day.  I did want to stay out and put the rest of the fish in the box but at the same time, I was glad to be getting off early.  Great weather and good fishing, what more can you ask for.

Friday was still great weather but a little breezier.  I left out at noon with Brother Eric and his 15 year old son.  They were both experienced fishermen and we were catching fish right from the start.  The fish were definitely biting better and we put our limit in the box in about an hour and a half with all of our overs.  The fish were aggressive and we were all hooked up at the same time on several occasions.  We kept fishing for another couple of hours and released another 24 fish before we got tired of catching them and decided to head in around 4:00 making it a 44 fish day.

My rod is in the foreground in rod holder with a fish on while I'm taking this picture.
 

Saturday it was partly cloudy with 10-15 mph winds and temperatures in the 60’s again.  I left out again at noon with a group of 4.  The fish were right where I had left them and we started catching right away.  They were just as aggressive as the day before and we were putting them in the boat 4 at a time when we would get on them.  They had gotten just a bit smaller though.  Around 4:30 we had put our 40 fish limit in the boat.  I offered to go look for some bigger fish but they had decided that they had caught enough and were ready to head back.

Sunday was cloudy and misty with slightly cooler temperatures.  I left out with a group of 2 at 11:30.  Fishing was a bit slower today, possibly because the sun wasn’t out to warm the water, but we still managed to but 20 fish in the boat by 4:00.  Most of the fish were still small but we did manage 3 over 20”.  This time my offer to look for bigger fish was accepted so I went looking around at some new locations with limited success.  We landed 4-5 more fish but the biggest was this 6-7 lb green trash fish.  It didn’t fight much harder than a 20” striper so it was a surprise when we got it to the boat.

I can’t tell you how pleased I am to be catching limits consistently again.  It has been a tough winter with some slow trips of 10 fish or less and I’m glad it is over.  With more warm weather in the forecast and the days getting longer the fishing will continue to get better from here on out with the occasional slow day mixed in but that comes with fishing.  I still have openings available for the 18-19 of spring break and Sunday the 21st.  My rates are $250 for 2 and $125/each additional person.  You can book online at www.stripersinc.com or you can call anytime at (903)815-1609 and I’ll get you set up.

Good Luck to All,
Brian